Storm damaged my garden tonight

I'm so sad. I'm off to Walmart to try to find more tomato supports. Just before 7 tonight we had a severe thunderstorm roll through with really high winds. I got all my garden work done before anything came near but I didn't water, hoping the rain would do it for me. Well it sure did!

It took over an hour for most of the thunder/lighting to leave the area. Both my tomato plants were pushed down. The supports were literally bent at the ground on at least one of them!! I managed to get my cherry tomato one untangled from the other full sized one and get it back upright. The other one has some broken limbs that have small, unripe tomatoes on them. I got it up more; but not all the way. In falling it fanned all the branches out so I'm going to look for something to help hold it back up. I was standing out there in the pouring rain and it did rumble a few times too!

Anyone know if there is a way to bandage broken branches? I'm really so sad. My zucchini took a beating but I think it will be ok. I'm not sure how the cucumbers did since they are all intertwined with the summer squash and zucchini too. My bush beans (which I just got my first harvest off tonight before the storm) were under the zucchini so I didn't get a good look at those yet. I picked my first tomato tonight too.

So I got my first tomato today and my first beans and I'm praying that is not the last of it. I know some of us have been discussing our gardens and some of you know what a big deal this is for me...now this.

Awwwww that sucks

Is the actually stock broke, or just branches? If the stock itself is broke, it may be a lost cause, but if it's the branches they may still have a fighting chance. There's really no way to repair broken limbs, but they may repair themselves. Wait a few days and see if any start to turn brown. If they do, just cut them off and a new limb will probably grow. The Squash should be fine. They can take a beating and not really be affected from what I've seen with mine (groundhogs, no leaves left, torrential rain, and still producing). The beans, I can't say but if they are protected by they squash leaves they should be fine. The cucumbers should be fine because they are so low to the ground. As long as you didn't get hail that beat the crap out of them they should be good to go.

We have wire cones around most of our tomato plants and that helps with the wind. I'm not sure where you can get them...MIL used them for years and we just borrowed them but they have spikes about 5 inches deep that anchor them and the wind just goes right through them. I'll see if I can find out where to get them so that may help with the wind issues.

Thanks Hope! I have the cage like supports that surround them; but I probably should have gotten a bigger size! All I could find at Walmart are these 3' stake ones. They aren't as tall as my plants; but they might do the trick to add some support to those lower branches. I think it's just branches; the main stalk seemed ok. I guess if all else fails I can tie some twine around the stalk and tether it back in the other direction with a tent stake or something like that. Or find some wood at lowes or something.

Summer isn't half over and I've already got lots of changes planned for next years garden!

All of our tomato plants are bigger then the wire cones, if a few lower branches won't go through the wire that's fine. It's mainly to protect the stalk. If you steak them, use pantyhose instead of twine, because it has more give and expands as the plant grows. Twine might constrict it and keep the nutrients from going though the plant.

I can understand your heartbreak though. We haven't had major "mother nature" issues, but we're still dealing with groundhogs. I get so frustrated and depressed every time we water the garden. I can't see where they are getting in, but things are still being eaten. NO leaves on our cucumbers, very little leaves left on our squash, beans are gone, so are lettuce and cabbage. But our tomatoes and pepper plants are going strong and we should have a butt load in a few weeks. And I've gotten 4 good squash with more to pick, and there are loads of blooms on the cucumber plants, so I don't know if we should suspect something from them or not. Wait and see??

oh no!... ....

Aw that stinks Hope. Something has been messing with the blooms on my squash but I'm still getting enough of them. We are considering removing one or two because they have burried my carrots now; which are in the next section of the bed. Crazy!

I haven't been out back yet today. I overslept and we have to go somewere so I'm not wanting to get sweaty. Although at this rate I'm ready to throw in the towel... (with our plans, not our garden!)

Aww, sorry the storm beat up your tomatoes!! I hope with the extra supports, they'll be ok. They should be ok as long as they're not snapped in half or anything. I didn't even use the cones on my tomatoes, I guess I kind of forgot how big the plants can get, so I had some 2 ft. bamboo stakes and tied them loosely with twine. Then they grew a lot, too big to shove into the cones at this point, so I went and bought 4 ft. stakes and gathered the rambling vines and tied them up again with more twine. Loosely though, so I wouldn't strangle them. And now, a few weeks later, they're getting pretty unruly again. I'm getting about 2 handfuls (a pint or so?) of cherry tomatoes A DAY. However, my beans are puny. I've gotten maybe 10 total over the past few months. I'll trade some tomatoes for some beans!!

Hope it all works out!!

I definitely feel your pain! We had a major storm come thru almost 2 weeks ago and my flower garden took a huge beating. Makes me want to cry every time I look at it.

I only have 1 tomato plant this year, but I've actually pruned them in the past when they've gotten too long and leggy. It never seemed to hurt them. Maybe you can just trim off the broken stems --- and cross your fingers.

What you can do is buy rebar at home depot or a building center. Push/hammer it into the soil close to the main stem of the plant. Cut old pantyhose into strips-fairly long and two people may be needed, tie the stem of the plant to the stake. For the broken limbs you may want to pinch tem back a ways to take the weight of of them so they do not break completely off.

That just stinks! I hope they're not lost. Sometimes Mother Nature is not nice to us gardeners.

Thank you all! I went out this afternoon and I was able to untangle some branches and I used the 4 supports I got to prop up larger sections. Most of it is upright now. I left the broken parts alone pretty much. I'm just going to keep an eye on them. I hope at least the unbroken parts make it because there are a lot of tomatoes on there!!

Well, that bites little green worms!

I'm glad you were able to get the plants supported OK. And hopefully, those branches will be OK.

We had a similar thing here with wind and rain the other night. But only two of our tomato plants went down. We were able to take extra fencing, some posts, and ties and managed to get them up again. We're keeping a close eye on them, too.

Good luck!

DH wanted something like this for his tomatoes.
http://www.burpee.com/gardening-supp...tml?catId=2320

Oh that is so lousy... . Mother nature has taken her wrath out on alot of our gardens lately......

Originally Posted by Crazyforinfo

DH wanted something like this for his tomatoes.
http://www.burpee.com/gardening-supp...tml?catId=2320

Click to expand...

Oh those look cool! They look like they would do a better job once you get them upright again. Next year I'm at least buying bigger supports!!

This weather has not been kind to a newbie! Some of my zucchini look like they were trampled; but they are still producing big fruit. DH just pulled another huge one out tonight and a few medium sized ones. Anyone feel like grating some up for zucchini bread for me?

Originally Posted by MoochNNoodles

Anyone feel like grating some up for zucchini bread for me?

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We just got four really nice zucchini over the weekend. (And two cukes) I'm going to be grating some for bread. Bring yours down and we'll do them together!

I used one of the cukes in Fire and Ice Tomatoes....cucumbers and tomato wedges with onion slices in a pickling solution. Yum! I need to make some zucchini bread and some muffins now.

Yum! I have a ton of flowers on my cucumbers but no fruit from it yet. I got a big bag of HUGE cucumbers from a lady at my church a few weeks ago and we used them in a cuc salad. Just cucumbers, thinly sliced vidalia onion and I mixed up a vinegar dressing with cider vinegar and a handful of spices and man it was goooooood! Love doing that! So tasty!! A yogurt/dill sauce on them is great too!!

I'm so proud of you for making this garden, and for not letting the storm deter you one iota. More pictures coming soon?

Thanks Carol. I can snap a few pics tomorrow. I'm currently watching another line of storms approach. We are under a sever thunderstorm warning. I'm praying it fizzles out some. I'm ok with rain; just praying it doesn't have the wind and what not the last one did!

I have one small cucumber now and I saw quite a few tiny ones starting to form out there! I got my second tomato today and ate it within a couple hours of picking. I gave DH a slice and he said it really does taste different than what we get in the store. My daughter ate a bunch up too! So yummy!!